Staircase Rendezvous
by prettybaby
Summary: Just a short little piece of fluff. I think it's cute. It's a wonder what can happen on the magical staircases of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


Hey guys! This was just an idea I'd had rolling around in my head for a while. It's a cute little one-shot piece of fluff if I do say so myself. Of course I don't own anything, just the little plot. Everything else is credited to JKR. It's rated PG-13 just to be safe, although I think even a seven year old could read it. I hope you all like it and have fun reading!

~*~*~*~*~

***.::Staircase Rendezvous::.***

Where would her find her? He didn't know her class schedule – he didn't know where the Gryffindor Tower was – he didn't know a Goddamn thing that would help him at this point in time. He had already checked the Great Hall and the library. He needed to find her; he just had to. He still couldn't believe the awful things that he had said to her. In one moment of weakness he had let all that he had slip away.

~*~

"Look I've been thinking…" he looked down at her beautiful face; this was going be hard. "I don't think we should keep up this charade any longer." She looked confused and then hurt.

"What are you talking about?" 

"I mean, did you actually think that this would work?" He continued to stare at her. "For one moment when we were together – one moment out of the thousands – did no doubts plague your mind?" He already knew her answer. "No. Which is why we should just stop this now. There's no use in pretending anymore." He looked down at his hands, which held hers so gently.

"I'm not pretending. I never was!" He looked back into her warm brown eyes and his stomach gave a sickening roll as he realized she was moments from crying.

"We were both pretending, Hermione. We pretended that in due time we would be accepted if we just kept it a secret for a while. A Granger and a Malfoy; it's forbidden. We knew that all along and yet we jumped into this thing head first without thinking of the consequences."

"Why are you doing this?" Tears started to roll down her checks. "Why now, after all these months?" She looked into her icy eyes imploringly. Why did he decide to do this now? Why not months ago when there was still a chance that it wouldn't hurt as much. Draco supposed that he too believed that they could have a chance to be together - to be happy. He felt like crying out. He hated to see her like this, but he did not doubt the pain would be worse if they delayed the inevitable any longer.

"I just don't want us to get hurt." 

"Well, it's a little late for that!" Her shrill voice startled him. "I love you, Draco! Nothing you do now is going to change that." She squeezed his hands as if to prove her point. He yanked his hands out of her grasp and took a step back; his body immediately felt as though it had turned to ice.

"It's never going to work. Everywhere we go they won't see us as Draco and Hermione, but Pureblood and Mudblood," she flinched at the harsh word; he hadn't said it in a long time. He still continued, "Slytherin and Gryffindor, Dark and Light, Evil and Good. Our relationship is hard as it is, sneaking around in the shadows just so we can see one another. Imagine how it would be if they knew. Damnit! They'd probably just think I'm playing a cruel joke on you to break your heart or get to your friends. They'd pull us apart. We'd spend more time defending our relationship than having one." 

"I could live with that," Hermione said in a small voice.

"No, you wouldn't be able to." Draco looked at her with sad eyes. "Hermione, your friends would leave you. And after the whole world is done tearing us apart, they wouldn't come back. Don't throw away your friends for me, I know what it's like not to have any. I couldn't bear it if you hated me for losing them." She shook her head about to protest but he took a step towards her and once again held onto her hands. "For once in your life, Hermione, don't argue." He smiled a bit; he really did know her well. He watched as more tears slipped down her beautiful face. He brushed them away and she unconsciously leaned into his touch. "Don't cry," he nearly whispered. He kissed her chastely, letting his lips linger on her soft ones moments longer than needed. 

And then he let go and walked out the door.

~*~

He had made a mistake.

It had only been hours since their sad meeting in a spare classroom, but he knew that he had made a mistake almost immediately after he had stepped over the threshold. For an hour afterwards he fought with himself vigorously. He told himself that what he was doing was the right thing. "For God's sake, Draco. Do the right thing for once in your life!" He told himself. And that is when he ran out of the Slytherin common room and proceeded to search high and low for the girl that he loved. He had been searching for two hours and he had not found one clue as to where she could be. He even checked the wretched room in which the terrible event had taken place. No sign of Hermione.

Draco had just finished searching the dusty old seventh floor of the Hogwarts castle when he caught a glimpse of her chocolate tresses at the other end of the extremely long hallway. "Hermione!" he called as he began to sprint down the corridor. Either she didn't hear or she ignored him (most likely the later), for she continued to walk and turn into a doorway that would lead to the infamous changeable stairways of Hogwarts. Draco pushed himself to run faster but he was too late. 

He stopped short on a landing that once was connected to a set of stairs. Draco could see Hermione in the distance standing still on the moving staircase looking back at him, clutching a set of books to her chest tightly.

"Hermione! Wait for me!" he called.

Soon another set of stairs came to attach itself onto the landing Draco occupied. Without a second thought he ran onto them. He willed them to move and, after a few moments, there was a stir and the stairs set off in the same direction that Hermione's staircase had taken her. 

By the time Draco's staircase had begun to move, Hermione's came to rest at another landing, though she herself had yet to move. She stayed rooted to the spot she had been in for the short trip. Just when Draco's stairway was about to attach itself to the landing, Hermione's gave a forceful jerk, as if refusing to share the landing with another staircase, which surprised her.

"Draco!" she called faintly as she latched onto the side.

"Oh no," Draco muttered under his breath and he again wished his staircase to move faster. As if reading his mind his staircase did move faster, but not in the direction he had desired. With a sudden jolt that almost threw Draco to his feet, the staircase began to plummet towards the ground. "No, no, no! You stupid piece of rock! Wrong way!" He slammed his fist into the hard surface and as if by magic, no pun intended, the staircase came to a halt. Draco decided that if this were as close as he was going to get to Hermione then he'd better begin his proclamation before he lost her interest.

"Hermione!" he called up to the staircase right above his head. A few seconds later her head poked over the side and she looked down at him expectantly. "Hermione, I was wrong," he said straightforwardly. "I was wrong about so many things and I don't even know where to start apologizing. You were right. It shouldn't matter what other people think or say. And I know it's selfish, but I don't care. I don't care if your friends leave you and the only person you're left with is me. But Hermione, if you forgave me I'd be the only person you'd even need. I'd do my best to be your everything."

Throughout Draco's apology, he failed to realize that the stairway he was occupying began to slowly move up. He also failed to realize that his raised voice had ensnared the attention of many students. Those students filed onto other stairways and landings, and gazed at the couple with intense curiosity. Before he knew it, Draco's set of steps connected to the landing in which Hermione's occupied. He ran to her without hesitation.

"Draco, what if you were right? What if the whole world tears us apart and we have nothing left?" She looked into his eyes, pleading his to have an answer that she would like. He grabbed onto her hands, brought them up to his lips, and kissed them gently.

"Trying is better than letting go." At his words, Hermione smiled a rather small smile, but meaningful all the same. It was as if a great bubble inside her stomach had erupted and a warm substance gushed forward, evading her veins and coursing through her. She lunged at him and caught his lips with her own in a passionate kissed. This kiss had surprised Draco, but after a few seconds he returned it with equal, if not a surpassing amount of fervor.

It was only when they finally broke apart that they noticed that they had a rather large audience. It seemed as though the whole student body of Hogwarts were overhead watching them. In fact, the students were not only watching them, but also applauding them with great enthusiasm. They looked up and both smiled sheepishly. All around them on various staircases were students belonging to all four houses. The colors of their robes merged together to form a sea of red, green, yellow and blue.

In the crowd Hermione could see her two best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, looking around somewhat dazed. She witnessed them look at each other, shrug, and join in on the clapping, smiling down at the couple. 

She turned her attention to a loud commotion that sounded at the other end of the corridor. Fred and George Weasley, along with Lee Jordan, were hooting loudly, catcalling and whistling.

"Yea 'Mione, give us a show!" called George (or was it Fred).

"Kiss him again!" chanted Fred (or was it George).

Draco and Hermione laughed jovially. They looked around the hall. It seemed as though no one would be trying to split them apart any time soon. Every a handful of Slytherins were clapping respectfully.

With another lasting kiss the staircase descended to a lower level of the castle, leaving the loud applause behind them, and to a place where they could just be Draco and Hermione.

~*~*~*~*~

Well, I hope you all liked it. Please R&R and tell me what you think! 

All my love!


End file.
